Award details

ANIHWA CALL1:Improved Understanding of Epidemiology of PPR (IUEPPR)

Reference	BB/L013592/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor(retired) Richard Kock
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Dirk Pfeiffer
Institution	Royal Veterinary College
Department	Pathology and Pathogen Biology
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	251,498
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	02/12/2013
End date	01/12/2017
Duration	48 months

Abstract

Summary

PPR is an economically important disease, especially affecting the household economy of the poorest people, affecting mainly domestic sheep and goats in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Its causative agent is a Morbillivirus closely related to rinderpest virus (RPV) which has just been eradicated, the first-ever animal virus eradicated And the second after smallpox virus. PPR virus (PPRV) infects a wide host range of cloven hoofed animals of the families Bovidae, Cervidae and Suidae, e.g. African buffalo Syncerus caffer, antelopes, deer, wild goat, sheep deer and pigs(Kock et al., 2006, 2008; Furley 1987; Abubakar et al., 2011). Many of these species are highly endangered (IUCN Red List 2012), especially those from mountainous and arid regions, where small livestock predominate. It is spreading rapidly despite availability of effective vaccines and diagnostic tests for PPR control. It is now in Turkey at the gateway to the European Union and threatening southern Africa. The failure to manage PPR is perhaps, linked to both cessation of RPV vaccination which was cross protective and widely used in domestic sheep and goats and inattention to the small livestock sector. Historically, PPR spill-over from infected domestic sheep and goats was observed in wild artiodactyls kept in fenced enclosures in the Middle East. More recently, natural infection was reported in free-ranging wildlife, notably in bharal in Tibet (Bao et al., 2011 & 2012), ibex in Pakistan (Abubakar et al., 2011& 2012), and wild goats in Kurdistan (Hoffmann et al., 2012). All these wildlife outbreaks were associated with PPR-infected livestock. The role of wildlife in PPR epidemiology remains unclear (Banyard et al., 2010). It is not known whether wildlife contributes to the local transmission, spread and maintenance of PPRV, thus possibly linking otherwise separate livestock grazing areas (Baron et al., 2011). PPRV wildlife data are too scarce to draw any conclusion. Diagnostic tools for PPR surveillance exist but they are not able to detect field infection rapidly, precluding rapid control and rapid field tests, such as Lateral Flow Devices and Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), need to be developed and validated. A challenge is accessing wildlife samples, for technical and related costs. Current methods require animal capture for sampling. Recent success in obtaining antibody and virus antigen from faeces in livestock (Abubakar et al., 2012) suggest that this method might be applicable in wildlife. Urgent attention is needed at the borders of the pandemic. Turkey is the closest country to Europe that has reported outbreaks of PPR (though disease is less widespread in European Turkey in comparison to Asian Turkey, there were 20 laboratory confirmed PPR outbreaks reports in domestic sheep and goats in European Turkey 2011-2012). It hosts the same community of wild ruminants as Europe including representatives from the Caprinae (wild goats, chamois) and Cervidae. Wild goats are of high interest as the ancestor of the domestic goats; Cervidae (roe deer, red deer) are of importance because they are the most widespread and abundant wild ruminants in Europe. Theses wild ruminants might play the role of bridge species for PPRV transmission between distant populations of infected and health domestic sheep and goats populations. Research is urgently needed to clarify the epidemiology of PPR in wildlife species and populations (Munir, 2013), including genomic, virulence and field eco-epidemiological studies, crucial to establish an efficient and effective control strategy for PPRV.

Impact Summary

This project aims to a) improve knowledge of PPR epidemiology and virology; b) develop risk models for further local spread from endemic foci and specifically risk of spread of the disease into Europe; c) provide the scientific basis for designing optimal control strategies for PPR; d) develop and validate cost effective rapid diagnostic and surveillance methods. All partners within the consortium have the responsibility to ensure dissemination of project results, knowledge and expertise. Stakeholders within the region will be engaged using established networks of OIE, FAO, and AU-IBAR where relevant. The intellectual property that might be generated in this project includes: a) SEIR and diffusion models and risk analysis of PPRv transmission and emergence at the wildlife livestock interface; b) unique complete genome sequence collection; optimised methods for deep sequencing for PPRv; and established nucleotide substitution rate for PPRv and molecular basis of in vitro attenuation established. A series of local focal workshops will be held in study countries with beneficiaries, key policy makers in livestock wildlife development and animal health system delivery. Predictive mapping will be used to illustrate potential areas of disease introduction and spread within the region. Communication of research methods to academic beneficiaries will occur through grant acknowledged, peer-reviewed accessible publications and the presentation of findings at scientific conferences and seminars. Copyrights, biological resources transferred by Material Transfer Agreement or other, as well as project gained knowledge will be managed and protected according to a Consortium Agreement (CA). This CA will be drafted according with the specific guidelines for the CA of ANIHWA ERANET. In the CA, access rights to results and pre-existing know-how will be defined. Research outputs from the project with potential commercial impact shall be protected by patent or by other means, before publication.

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Animal Health, Microbiology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Animal Health and Welfare (ANIHWA) [2013-2015]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

Associated awards:

BB/L013657/1 ANIHWA CALL1:Improved Understanding of Epidemiology of PPR (IUEPPR)

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